Can't Touch Me Now
by DisneyV
Summary: After Sectionals, when Rachel gets slushied, she's had enough. She quits being the innocent little Berry, she quits using the big words and she decides to be herself. Lets see what McKinley thinks of her now.
1. Chapter 1

RACHEL'S POV

"And we are going to _rule_ this school!" I say confidently, only to be met with a blue raspberry slushy to the face.

"Welcome to Losertown!" Karofsky shouts.

"Population: You!" Anthony, another jock says. They high-five and walk away.

"Ugh, I can't believe they get away with doing this!" Kurt says as he shakes the slushy off of his clothes.

"That's it!" I say. "I've had enough of this!"

"So have we, Diva, but what can we do about it?" Mercedes asked me, as we started walking to the bathroom.

I shook my head. "I'm not letting them do this to me anymore." I turned around and started walking to the door.

"Diva, where are you going?" I heard Kurt call from behind me. "Rachel?" he shouts through the hall. I shake my head again and walk out the door.

I hop in my car and drive home. My dads are off who knows where. They go on trips for months at a time, and are only home for 2 weeks out of the whole year. Not that I mind. They work for a major company, so we're really rich. My allowance is $200 a week. I walk in and disarm the alarm and walk in my room. My real room is in the basement. The room Kurt and Noah saw is in the guesthouse. We have the biggest house in Lima, and it's on the side of the lake. My room is sort of separated from the house. It is under the water too.**(Link on profile)**

I open my closet and put everything into a clothes basket. I'd bought the clothes when I started getting slushied.

"Not anymore." I said to myself. I ducked under my bed and pulled out numerous suitcases with my normal clothes in them. I started filling up my wardrobe. I've been enrolled in dance and gymnastics since I was three. I also have a major morning workout routine, so my body's in great shape. I pick out my favorite workout clothes **(Link on profile)** and head to the dance studio that's next to my room. I turn on the music and lose myself in whatever music is playing.

PUCK'S POV

"Rachel?" I hear Kurt shout through the hallway. I look and see nothing. Don't be so surprised. I may have said that we weren't friends before, but that's only because she had just dumped me. I didn't really mean it. I mean, we weren't, but that doesn't mean I didn't want to be.

"Where does that diva think she's going?" I hear that black chick, whose name I can't remember, ask Kurt.

"What are you talking about?" I walk up and ask.

"Rachel," Kurt says, and they both walk away quickly. I wonder what that's about.

I walk into first period and I'm surprised when I don't see Rachel front and center. The same thing happens in every class. At least there's glee today so I can see what's going on.

I walk into glee 5 minutes late, and Rachel isn't here. Then I know somethings up. I sit next to Santana.

"Satan."

"Puckerman."

"Have you seen Rachel today?" I get straight to the point.

"No, and it's kind of weird. Shouldn't she be here already?"

"Yeah, and she hasn't been in class all day."

That's when Schue decides to walk in. "All right! Who's ready to-" He stops himself as he looks over the room twice. "Wait, where's Rachel?"

A chorus of "I don't know" and "She's not here?" echo across the choir room.

Kurt and Mercedes look at each other. "Mr. Schue, we haven't seen Rachel since this morning." Kurt pipes up.

"What happened?" he asks. I pay attention to this too.

"We got slushied, and she said she's had enough, and walked away. We haven't seen her since." Mercedes chimed in.

"Okay, well, we'll just have to do without her. Um, this weeks lesson is to find a new hello. What do you say when you answer the phone?"

"What up?" Mercedes says.

Artie cuts in with, "Who dis be?"

"No she's dead, this is her son." Kurt says while "perfecting" his hair.

"Okay then, your assignment is to find a song with the word 'hello' in it." He turns and goes into his office, and everyone else starts talking about Rachel.

"W-w-where did she go?" Tina asked.

"How should we know?" Mercedes asked sassily.

"It must have been a big deal if she's not here!" Artie brought up.

"When we got slushied, she said 'I'm not letting them do this to me anymore.' and I don't know what exactly she meant, but I have a feeling, tomorrow is going to be very interesting." Kurt stated.

"Should someone go check on her?" I asked. Heads swiveled to look at me as if I'd grown another head.

"Why do you care?" Finn asked jealously. He's not even dating her, he shouldn't be jealous.

"I care because she's not at glee. This is Rachel Berry we're talking about." I reasoned. A few others like Mike, Matt, and Santana nodded.

"She might be annoying, but we can't perform without her. We've tried. Instead of Rachel, we had the drunken has-been April Rhodes." Santana said, unconsciously giving Rachel a compliment. Backhanded, but a compliment none the less.

"I don't think she needs to be checked on, but if she's not here tomorrow, Mercy and I'll go." Kurt said.

"Okay." I said, and everyone else agreed. I hope she's okay. It caught me there. Why do I care so much? Because I still like her. Impossible. She dumped me, I'm not supposed to still want her!

Next Day

RACHEL'S POV

Time to put my plan into action. I put on my outfit **(Link on profile) **

"All right McKinley, time to meet your new HBIC." I say as I look into the mirror.

I walk into the kitchen **(Link on profile) **and cook bacon and pancakes. After I eat, I head into the garage. As I look over the cars I finally decide on my 2008 black and white lamborghini. I hop in and drive to school. I pull into my new parking spot and step out. I walk into school, and everyone's expressions are priceless. I'm lucky I don't burst out laughing right now.

I'm walking towards the choir room for a morning glee practice, and when I walk in, I'm the last person there and everyone's eyes are on me.

"RACHEL BARBRA BERRY!" Kurt screeched.

"Talk a little louder why don't you?" I rubbed my ears.

"Looking hot Berry," Noah tells me. I smirk. I look at the other shocked faces.

"Thanks Puckerman. So why are you staring?" I ask.

"Because you look hot as hell." Santana says.

"Jealous?" I shot back. Anyone who got over my look dropped their jaw at my attitude.

"Why would I be?" She asks. Here comes the bombshell.

"Because you've lost your HBIC position to Rachel Berry." Eyes widened and heads turned back and forth at Santana and I as if watching a tennis match.

"Like you even know what that means," she said.

"Even if you did, I'm HBIC around here RuPaul." Quinn butt in.

"Oh Quinny, if that's what helps you sleep. Everyone else knows it was Santana." I said in a sugary sweet tone of voice.

"I like this new you Berry." Santana finally said.

"I was _so_ doing this for your approval," I rolled my eyes. "But thanks S. So, I have to go, more interesting things to do, better people to see. In about 10 seconds I'm going to get a phone call so…" I trail off and pull my iPhone 6 out of my bag. Sure enough my phone rings 10 seconds later. I look at the caller ID and it says Ari. Ari is one of my best friends. She has red hair and blue eyes. I put my phone on speaker and answer it.

"Hey bitch!" I say. "It's been forever. How's everyone?"

"_Eh, we're fine. Not that you would know. Last night was the first time you've contacted us in ages."_

"3 days is ages?" I roll my eyes at her dramatics.

"_It is if it's us. Remember we all have a room at each others houses."_

"Yes I remember Ari, I have 15 rooms at my house that remind me every day."

"_Anyway I heard you swear. And you're at school. I'm guessing you're fed up?"_

"Definitely. Ray's here to stay bitches!" I half-shout.

"_Glad you're back Ray. Since you're language is back, that means you clothes are too. Outfit check!" _

I rolled my eyes again. "The black see-through Chiffon dress that goes a little above mid-thigh-"

"_The one that makes you tits look amazing?"_

"That's the one. Black platform booties, and the nail polish that's purple and fades to deep blue."

"_Good. Care to mention jewelry?" _I can just picture her raising one eyebrow though the phone.

"You'll see it tonight. I'm coming."

"_Seriously? I'll buy the movies, the cookie baking stuff, and the-"_

"Ari! It's fine. Relax, and take a deep breath. It's me. It's not a guest. Invite the others though will you?" She laughs.

"_They won't give me a choice. If they find out you were here and they didn't see you, they'd kill me."_

"Then Eric would kill them." I smile at our familiar banter. "Alright, I'll see you guys tonight. Love you bitch!" I tell her.

"_Love you too!"_ I hang up and see the Gleeks staring at me.

"I know I'm hot." I smirk. "Later losers!" I walk out the door and see Karofsky coming towards me with a slushy.

"Well, you may look hot, but you are still a loser." He snarls, trying to look intimidating. I roll my eyes. Just as he pulls back his arm to throw the slushy, I knock the cup sideways, not getting a drop on me. As everyone stares at me in awe I decide to make an announcement.

"Listen up people! Name's Rachel Berry. Remember it! I'm not your punching bag any longer! I am to be treated with respect! I've been taking karate for 10 years. I will not hesitate to use violence. If you want you can call me B, but if you even try to call me anything other than B, Berry, or Rachel, I will kick your ass." I nod my head once, and walk to class.


	2. Chapter 2

**Rachel's POV**

As I walked into class, everyone turned to stare at me. Normally, I would give them a beaming smile and let them laugh about me. Not anymore.

"Can I help you?" I bit out, as I gave them a glare so cold, I saw one girl shiver.

"N-n-no Rachel!" A freshman cheerio squeaked. I smirked and I could see some people relax.

"Good. I wouldn't want there to be any problem," I stated, daring anyone to reply. Azimio does. Idiot.

"Actually Berry, there is." I heard many warnings thrown around the room. Telling him that he's on thin ice.

"And what would that be?" I cocked one eyebrow and gave him a glare.

"The problem is, you're a loser, and no matter how smoking hot you look, you always will be." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Have you seen Karofsky since the hallway incident?" I asked mentally kicking his ass. The teacher would show up in about 5 minutes so we had time.

"What hallway incident?" he asked cluelessly. I gave the football player next to him a look, and he pulled out his phone and showed him the footage from Jacob's blog. As he watched the video, his jaw dropped. When it was over, he looked at me with his mouth opening and closing.

"Are you going to say something or just sit there looking like a fish?" I finally ask.

"I'm sorry, I guess," he stuttered. I can't blame him.

"That's as good as I'll get. Now you," I said, turning to focus on a baby cheerio who was sitting in the very back corner, "Are in my seat."

"Sorry Rachel!" She runs into another spot by a different cheerio. I realized she's thee same one who answered me earlier.

"Hey!" I called out as I slid into my seat.

"Yes?" she asked in a fear filled voice.

"Name?"

"Emily."

"Well Emily, call me B. Sit at my table at lunch, okay?"

She looked shocked and happy, than just giddy. "Sure Ra-" She cut herself off when I raised an eyebrow. "B, I meant B."

I gave her a soft smile, and then the teacher walked in.

When the lunch bell finally rang, I walked to the cafeteria. Everyone stopped talking and looked at me. I rolled my eyes.

"Nothing to see here," I said loudly, and soon they were all whispering about me. I pick a table to the left of the direct middle. I see Emily walk in and look around. When she spots me she beams and practically skips over to me.

"Hey B!" I could tell she was still hesitant.

"Em, you can relax, I'm not going to kill you," I said, smiling softly at her.

"Em, I like it."

"You better." I joked. She rolled her eyes, then gave me a soft smile.

We made small talk until the glee club walks up to my table and sits down.

"Is this baby cheerio bothering you B?" Santana asked me. She glared at Emily, who made a move to leave.  
"Don't leave Em," I said in a tone that said, 'I'll take care of this.'

She nodded and slid back into her seat.

"Okay 1, don't call me B. Only Emily here gets that privilege. 2, don't talk to her like that. And 3, did I say you could sit at my table?"

The gleeks were shocked at my words. Quinn shook herself out of the stupor first.

"Well, no, but-" I cut her off.

"Then what are you doing here?" She goes to respond but I don't let her. "Listen for a minute, okay." When she reluctantly nods I stand on the table. "HEY!" I shout. Everyone turns their heads. "My table is one you can eat at only by personal invitation. And, anyone who harasses Emily here will not only answer to Sue Sylvester, but me. I don't think you want that, so leave her alone, and don't eat at my table and everything will be fine. Okay?"

Everyone nodded their heads, and I got off the table.

"Thank you," Emily said, obviously touched at the fact that I would stand up for her like that.

"Of course Em!" The gleeks made no move to leave so I sighed heavily. "Okay, what are you still doing at my table?" I cocked an eyebrow.

"Why should we leave?" Santana had her bitch face on.

"Because I told you to. Now, I learned karate, and I can fight and take anyone down, so you best be moving your ass before I do." I said, my tone completely serious. They all stood up to leave. "Wait!"

"Yeah Rach?" Finn asked, his puppy dog face showing.

"Noah, you can stay, the rest, goodbye!"

"Why'd you let me stay Berry?"

"Call me B, Noah. And because I wanted too. Now Em, I want you to pick two friends who you trust with your life, and tell them they are allowed to sit here."

"Thanks B!" She ran off to find her friends. She came back a couple minutes later. "B, this is Katherine and Sophia."

"So tell me if these are okay. Kate or Katie if you want, and Soph. Sound good?"

"K-Katie's fine," Katherine stuttered.

I rolled my eyes. "You guy can relax, and call me B."

"Okay so B," Sophia started, sliding into a seat across from me. "Why the sudden change?"

"That's what I was going to ask," Noah commented.

"I was fed up with trying to be this goody two-shoes, which I'm not actually. You guys are seeing some of the real me. Only 3 people have seen the official me. Ari, my best friend, Eric, Ari's boyfriend, and Landon, **(Link on profile)** the hottest guy to ever walk planet Earth."

"Whoa, whoa, back it up. This Landon dude is the second hottest guy, I'm the first."

I rolled my eyes and turned back to the girls, knowing he would still listen to the conversation. "All the guys in glee have different attractiveness scales. Finn is a 2 on the adorable scale, Mike and Matt are 6's on the cuteness scale, Noah's a 4 on the hotness scale, and Landon is a 10 on the Greek god scale."

"Yeah, right." I heard Noah mumbling to himself. I smirked and kept talking with my girls.

"So, shopping tomorrow night sound good?" Katie asked.

I winced. "Sorry girls, I have practice today and tomorrow. I have Friday free," I said.

"It's okay B, we'll wait." Em chimed in.

The bell rang. As we gathered up our trays I replied. "Thanks! You guys are the best. See you tomorrow!" We say our goodbyes and head our separate ways.


	3. Chapter 3

PUCK'S POV

"Wait what practice?" I asked confused as I walked with Rachel down the hallway to math. I know what you're thinking. Since when does the resident badass/stud go to math? Easy. Since Rachel Berry got hotter.

"Um, glee of course!" She rushed and avoided the subject.

"Bullshit. I'm in glee too, and I know that we only have a open stage today and nothing tomorrow." I cocked an eyebrow. "So where are you running off to Berry?"

"Doesn't matter," she said nonchalantly.

Ah, do I smell a challenge? I smirked. Puckzilla always loves a challenge.

"Right. Let's make a deal B." I stated, smirking at her.

"What deal?"

"You taking it or not?"

"Alright," she said exasperatedly. "What's the deal?"

"So today's open stage. You have to sing a song by an artist on today's pop radio."

"Pop? I don't listen to pop!"

"Oh well, you made the deal. You also can't ask anyone or listen to the radio."

She glared. "And if I don't?"

"You have to tell me where you're going."

She looked like she was considering telling me, than, for a minute, she looked horrified. "Absolutely not! I'd rather sing a song and fail than tell you."

"Oh, I forgot, part of the deal is, if you don't sing a song that's on the radio now, you have to tell me,"

An emotion passed across her face, relief almost, but it was gone the next second so I couldn't tell.

"Fine. See you in glee." She started walking into the room and was confused when I followed her. "What are you doing?"

"Going to class?"

"You never come to math, I thought it was your designated, 'fuck random chick in the janitors closet' period."

Her comment took me by surprise. I faked hurt. It did sting a little that people still thought of me like that. I mean, I've changed since… okay, point taken.

"Ouch, that hurt." I half-expected her to get all concerned and ask if I was okay. She didn't.

"If that hurt, than grow a pair and stay on my good side."

I blinked and had my jaw on the ground for a couple minutes. Then I smirked. An honest to God Puck smirk. The one that had girls headed my way, dropping their panties in a pile. When she saw it and I winked, she didn't do anything. Nothing! No blush, no soft smile, nothing. She just rolled her eyes and slid into her seat.

RACHEL'S POV

When Noah smirked at me I rolled my eyes. If he wants to tap this piece of hotness, he's gonna have to try harder than a smirk.

I can't have Noah, or anyone finding out what I do after glee! I'd be an outcast right afterwards, and I'm not giving up being the HBIC(Head Bitch In Charge.)

The truth is, me and my friends are on a cheerleading team called Spirit, and the Cheerios are our biggest rival. I've always been second in command, and that's how I've kept it hidden, but now that I'm captain, the Cheerios will know at Sectionals on Monday.

I bet you're wondering how I can be on a competing squad and not go to their school. Well, Spirit doesn't belong to a school, it belongs to an exclusive academy. The International Dance Academy to be specific. **(Not a real place!)** The Cheerios always win nationals, but the top two teams go to international. We always win international.

The IDA includes every type of dance, gymnastics, cheer(obviously), and every year we have a guest appearance on So You Think You Can Dance. I've been enrolled since I was 6, and I was immediately on every dance/gymnastics/cheer team for my age. Since then I've been making my way up, and I'm basically famous in the halls.

If anyone found out, I shudder just thinking about it.

"Everything okay B?" I glance over at Noah and see him staring at me with a concerned expression on his face.

"Just fine Noah," I said as I glanced at the clock and realized I'd spent half the class thinking.

"Why do you call me Noah anyway? Everyone else calls me Puck, which is much more badass than Noah."

I held in a laugh, because it really wasn't. As part of an acting class I'd taken, we were reading 'A Midsummer's Night Dream' by Shakespeare. After I read that the fairy was named Puck, I'd never be able to call him that without picturing him with little fairy wings.

"Um, I knew you before you went all Puck?" I said, but it came out as a question. I almost lost it when I said his nickname.

"Bullshit B, that wasn't an answer, it was a question."

"Um, I like the name Noah better." I said, confidently this time, even though I was _this close_ to laughing.

"Yeah right." He rolled his eyes. I shook my head and smiled.

I opened my notebook and start moving my pencil. See, my pink notebook that everyone thinks is filled with notes from the lesson, it's not a notebook. It's a spiral drawing pad. I sketch out designs during school, and fill them in at home. At the moment I was drawing me on Ari's birthday in 8th grade. **(Link on Profile)**

"What's that?" Noah asked, looking over my shoulder.

I slammed it shut before he had the chance to see. "Nothing!" I stated nervously.

"I doubt that," he said grabbing the drawing pad with both hands and sliding it out from under mine. Did I mention I put a lock on it that activated when it shut? No? Well I did. I have to trace a pattern on the cover that opens it. My dads work for a major technology company, so I got it as a present last time they were home. Which was last year.

He tried to open it. It wouldn't budge. "What the fuck?"

He tried to pry it open with all his strength. I giggled. "How the fuck did you do that?"

"My dads work for a major technology company. They brought me that, which every time it shuts it automatically locks. I have to trace a certain pattern on the cover for it to open." I said as I smirked and ripped it from his hands.

He looked surprised and was about to ask me something when the bell rang. Next was Biology. Ugh!

"See you Noah!" I called over my shoulder as I walked out of the room.

*At Glee*

I'm really lucky that all Ari listens to is pop. I wasn't lying. I don't listen to pop, but my best friend does, so I have to hear a few songs. One that I loved is Rock God by Selena Gomez, so here we go. I slipped into my outfit **(Link on Profile) **and let Mr. Schue know I'm doing a surprise performance and to be ready.

"Alright gleeks," I say to myself while putting on the finishing touches to my makeup in the bathroom mirror. "Be ready for a performance that will Blow. Your. Minds."


	4. AN

**Hey it's V! I wanted to say sorry for the slow updates. Don't kill me please! I know it's been about a month or so, and I want to apologize to all of you for not being consistent. I thank you guys for sticking with me though!**

**Love and Hope**

**-V**


	5. Chapter 4

PUCK'S POV

Man I'm looking forward to this! It's either pop song from Rachel, or her secret. I wonder what it is. The fact that she looked so scared to even mention it. I could tell when I asked her the first time, she was kicking herself for mentioning it. I don't know what would be so big that no one can know.

"Alright guys!" Schue said, clapping his hands together. "Rachel has a surprise performance for us. She told me to tell Puck, 'I'll keep you finding out for as long as I can, and look forward to the show.'"

That got me thinking. Why doesn't she want anyone to know? I heard the beginning beats of a pop song I heard on the way here this morning.

"God dammit!" I cursed under my breath.

Santana heard and looked over. "What?" she asked.

"I made a deal with Rachel, she has some kind of practice today and tomorrow. She wouldn't tell me what, so I said she has to sing a pop song on today's radio. If she asks anyone or listens to the radio, she has to tell me her secret." I explained.

She nodded and I saw a look pass over her face. I didn't recognize it.

"What's that face for?"

"What do you mean?"

"The face you're making."

"I have a hunch, that's all."

"About what?"

"Don't worry about it. Tana's got some research to do."

I looked up and Rachel walked into the room. My jaw dropped. She looked sexy as hell.

**(I suggest listening to Selena Gomez Rock God during this part)**

_Preacher man walked into the club and he said_

_He said, hey girl can't you walk and not stray?_

_Father I'm torn and I'm selling my soul to the_

_Rhythm, the beat and the bass_

_Cause I can't confess my rock and roll ways_

_Cause I'm so possessed with the music_

_The music he plays_

How did she figure out a song? I didn't tell her any!

_I can't stop my feet from dancing_

_To the sound of his drum_

_Oh no, I fell in love with my rock god_

_I can't keep my hips from swaying_

_To his sweet melody, you see_

_I fell in love with my rock, rock god_

She swayed her hips like a boss. When she walked in, she looked like a swimsuit model!

_Preacher man took my hand and looked in my eyes_

_He said, hey girl can't you live your life right_

_Father things aren't always so black and white_

_Don't cast the first stone cause I'm not alone_

_And it's not like I'm hurting anyone_

_But I can't confess my rock, my rock and roll ways_

She had a sexy little pout on.

_I can't stop my feet from dancing_

_To the sound of his drum_

_Oh no, I fell in love with my rock god_

_I can't keep my hips from swaying_

_To his sweet melody, you see_

_I fell in love with my rock, rock god_

_I can't stop my feet from dancing_

_To the sound of his drum_

_Oh no, I fell in love with my rock god_

_I can't keep my hips from swaying_

_To his sweet melody, you see_

_I fell in love with my rock, rock god_

_No, I wouldn't change a thing even if I could_

_Cuz' I chose a path and I'm not looking back_

_And I'm sorry if I left the angels crying over me_

She sounded different in a hot way.

_I can't stop my feet from dancing_

_To the sound of his drum_

_Oh no, I fell in love with my rock god_

_I can't keep my hips from swaying_

_To his sweet melody, you see_

_I fell in love with my rock, rock god_

_Preacher man, preacher man_

_Preacher man, preacher man_

_(Forgive me but I don't know what I do)_

_Preacher man, preacher man_

_(Preacher man, why don't you understand)_

_Preacher man, preacher man_

_Cause I'm gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone_

_(Have you ever felt this way, have you ever ever never, felt this way)_

_Yeah I'm gone, gone, gone_

_With my rock, rock god_

She finished by nodding her head up. This is Rachel Berry we're talking about! A performance like this from her? Then again, I don't really know her.

Is this the girl we've known since… How long have we known her? All I know is she started being my target as a sophomore, or this year.

"Thanks for the performance, I've got a couple places to be! Bye!" She fluttered her fingers and left the room.

I turned to the others. "How long have we known Rachel?" I asked.

Everyone turned to look at Kurt. "What? I've only known her since the beginning of the year."

"Same," said Mercedes.

"I only met her this year." Artie said, and Tina agreed.

"I've only known her this year." Finn said, a constipated, sorry, _confused_ look on his face.

"Same for Britt and I, but I swear I've seen her before." Santana said, her eyebrows drawing together.

"I've known Rachel for a year too San!" Brittany said, bouncing up and down in her seat.

"That's good Brit, now let's figure out where we've seen her before, okay?" Santana asked, her usual hard facade crumbling for the ditzy blonde.

"Well this is interesting and all, I do want to point out that Diva just left without a word." Mercedes cut in.

"She was mentioning earlier about a practice she had to be at today and tomorrow. That's probably where she went," I said, breaking the heavy silence that had descended upon the room.

"Well then we only have one option don't we?" Quinn asked.

"What?"

"Tomorrow we follow her."

**Hey guys! I want to apologize for the short chapter and not updating. I also want to give a shoutout to bratitude4eva for being an awesome friend and for helping me shake out of my writer's block. Thanks, and I promise there will be updates more often! Bratitude4eva also helped me with the plot for the next couple chapters.**

**Love and Hope**

**-V**


	6. Chapter 5

**RACHEL's POV**

I heard everyone say that they were going to follow me. That's problem #1. I can't let them follow me. If they find out ahead of schedule then it's all ruined. Okay Ray, calm yourself. I coached myself down from the worry that was bubbling up in my chest.

I pulled up to the IDA and saw big trouble. Sue Sylvester's _Le Car_ was parked in front of the building. I gathered up my courage, and became the HBIC I really was. I wasn't going to let _Sue Sylvester_ of all people stop me from my true dream of dance.

Just my luck, I walked in to check in as Sue was checking out.

"Streisand, what are you doing here?"

I was about to answer when Gwen, the original captain came up to us.

"B! Hey, Spirit needs you! They are messing up the Sectionals routine for Monday. You know how important this competition is. With you at the top, the Cheerios won't stand a chance."

My eyes widened when I realized that Sue just heard what I was doing here. I turned slowly to look at her, and she practically has a vein popping out of her forehead.

"What is the meaning of her words, Streisand?"

"What did it sound like Sylvester?" I bit back, raising one eyebrow.

"Meet me in my office tomorrow morning."

"Why should I?"

"I'll tell all your little geeky friends."

"Fine, but only because I have a better way to break it to them."

"Fine." She then stormed out of the building.

I rolled my eyes and turned to Gwen. "Drama queen." I muttered.

"Says you."

"Oh, hush!" I wink and we both headed to the cheer gym.

As soon as I walked in everyone swarmed me. Saying hello and such. Like I said, I'm practically a legend.

"Okay girls, that's enough, let's run through the routine okay?" I asked.

They nodded, practically falling over themselves to get in formation. Gwen is the coach now, but she passed captain on to me.

As we ran through it, I could feel something wrong. I asked my sub to go through it so I could watch it.

"It feels off." I said, so I had the girls run through it again. I saw that one of the bases was limping. Sarah, I remembered.

"Sarah, come here for a minute." She ran over and looked a little worried.

"Yeah cap?" I could tell she was trying not to grimace because of her pain.

"Are you okay, you were limping."

"Fine! I just hurt my knee." I nodded.

"Understandable, but I want you to be okay for Monday. I care for all of you, and if this competition is bad for your health, I want you to back out."

Sarah nodded thoughtfully.

"Look Sarah, you girls are some of my best friends, so let my substitute take over your spot Monday, you can have it back after competition, but I want you safe and healthy over everything."

She reluctantly nodded. "Thanks B. You really are amazing."

I smiled. We ran through the routine again, and it was much better.

"Okay girls, before we go, I want to applaud Sarah, on the fact she's brave enough to step down from Monday to keep her knee intact."

All the girls started cheering for Sarah, who almost started crying.

**Next Day**

The second I walked into school I could feel the glee clubs eyes on me. I realized that it would be harder to sneak out then I thought.

"Hey B!" I look to my left where Em is walking.

"Hey Em."

"She wants to see you."

"Right, I forgot! See you at lunch?"

She nodded and flounder off.

I chuckled under my breath and headed towards Sue's office. She was lounging in her chair.

"Alright Sue, what do you want?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"I want to know why you would turn your back on your school to be a part of Spirit, the one team this school despises."

"Why? Oh I don't know. Maybe the fact that not only have I been with the IDA longer but Spirit accepts me. You can't say the same for this school. The people here, including you, treat me like shit, and I'm done taking it!" I exclaimed, starting to pace.

"You may think that, but what would your little glee club think? That you've been ditching glee to go to that godforsaken building and train as a Spirit cheerleader, the captain no less, and dance as well?" It was her turn to raise an eyebrow.

Something inside of me snapped.

"I honestly don't care what the gleeks think because singing is my #3 passion. Yeah, that's right. My #1 is dance, and 2 is cheer. Nothing will _ever _top that. It can sure as hell try but it won't. And the IDA is _not_ a godforsaken building. If anything is, it's McKinley! And as for being the captain. I worked hard to get my spot. I have been enrolled at the IDA for as long as I can remember so I earned that spot. You can hate me or whatever you want, but that won't change the fact that I'm a Spirit. I'm the Spirit captain, and you can try to phase us all you want. Fair warning to you _Sue Sylvester_," I sneered. "You won't break me. You have pushed me to far for the last time. Spirit normally let's you guys win at Nationals. Not this year. This year, our all will be given. You will not win a single competition if I have anything to say about it." I then executed the perfect diva moment by storming out.

As I stormed out of Sue's office, Noah caught up with me.

"Are you okay? Why were you in Sylvester's office?"

"Fine, Sue was just being a bitch."

"So where are you going after school?"

"I told you yesterday Noah, practice."

"Why won't you tell me what your practice is?"

"Why don't I show you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Meet me by my car after school and you can see what my practice is."

"Okay."

"Also, could you call off the gleeks so they don't follow us?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"How-" He stopped himself. "Okay. Deal."

"Good. See you then."


	7. Chapter 6

**RACHEL'S POV**

Dumb. I berated myself. Dumb, dumb-dumb, diddity-dumb. I'm letting Noah come to Spirit practice tonight. How dumb can I get?

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful with the exception of Sue and I glaring at each other everytime we saw each other.

As I walked by the field on the way to my car after school, I heard Sue yelling, sorry, giving a pep talk to the Cheerios.

"Alright you sloppy freak show babies! Spirit has upped the ante. I have no idea what they are going to do, I just know we have to be better."

I grinned and met up with Noah at my car.

**PUCK'S POV**

I'm surprised B invited me to the practice today. As we split up, I met up with the gleeks in the choir room.

"Any news?" Hummel asks, practically pouncing on me.

"She invited me to whatever the practice is tonight. I'm going, but you guys can't come with or follow us."

"What? Why not?" Jones asked.

"No idea, and honestly, I don't care. We are still finding out what it is so is it that big of a deal you have to see it?"

They all shook their heads and I heard a couple 'I guess not' from them. I grinned and headed to my class.

As the day continued, I couldn't help but wonder what this practice was. Or maybe she was ditching her practice to kill me. I chuckled under my breath and immediately dismissed the thought. B was a force to be reckoned with when she was mad, but she wouldn't kill anybody.

After the school day ended, I walked to B's car. I heard Sylvester bitching at the Cheerios about some squad called Spirit. I only know it was another squad because when I was 'dating' Satan, she was bitching about this squad that was amazing and that's when I normally tune out of the conversation.

B walked up and my breath caught. She looked hot. **(Wearing her workout clothes)**

"Hey Noah!" Her smile lit up her face.

I grinned back at her. "Hey B. So where we headed?"

She smirked. "You'll find out."

I hop in the passenger seat and she brings the engine to life.

"Fair warning-" The radio cut her off as it blasted from the speakers. I quickly turned it down. "I was going to warn you about that." She smiled sheepishly.

"Why was it so loud?" I asked.

"One of my favorite songs was playing this morning, so I turned up the volume."

"What song was it?"

"You Give Love a Bad Name, Bon Jovi."

I was surprised. "You're a Bon Jovi fan Berry?"

"Yeah. I listen to a lot of different types of music."

"Huh." Rachel seemed really one dimensional in her music tastes. Broadway. I guess we were wrong.

"Yeah. So before we get there, I have to ask you a favor."

"What is it?"

"Don't judge me or tell any of the gleeks. I have a surprise for them to find out."

I wasn't sure what to do for a minute. It was either, trust Rachel, or trust the gleeks. "Deal."

She pulled up to this huge strip mall sized building. On the front in red lettering was the letter's IDA. Apparently they stood for International Dance Academy. I was still confused.

She smiled nervously at me and that confused me more. We got out of her car and walked in. She checked us in and as we walked down the hallways, everyone seemed to stop and greet her. I was completely clueless.

She led me into a gym where the girls and few guys swarmed her.

"Hey B!" Some girl shouted.

"Hey Gwen. How are they doing?"

"Better now that Sarah is out and healing."

Rachel sighed with relief. "Good. Should we run through?"

"Sure."

They got into a formation of some sort and started performing a cheer. I took in the other people's outfits and it was a cheerleading uniform. Across the front said Spirit. Oh. _Oh._ That's why she didn't want people to know.

As I looked on, my jaw started dropping. Now I see what Satan was bitching about. They're really good! They didn't do huge life threatening stuff like Sue forced the Cheerios to do, but their performance was like as intricate design.

But Rachel brought the entire thing to life. You could tell she was in her element. No one could hold a candle to her skill.

They were getting into their final pyramid when the 2 girls under Rachel, who was at the top, launched her into the air. She immediately started doing flips. I looked on in shock as the rest of the pyramid started to fall. It was planned of course. I was counting Rachel's flips and she had just reached 8 when Gwen told her to stop and cradle.

My chest started to tighten with panic when she didn't, but instead kept doing them.

Soon most of the squad was telling her to pull out. As I watched with baited breath, I noticed maybe 4 girls and 3 guys all rolling their eyes at her.

I immediately clenched my fist, and turned back to Rachel. She was falling fast and I almost cried out to her when she pulled out just in time to cradle.

I let out a huge breath I didn't realize I was holding.

She went over to the people who had rolled their eyes and I noticed a red haired blue eyed girl punch her on the arm. I walked over to them and when Rachel saw me, I saw her eyes light up.

"Noah!" She exclaimed.

"I swear to God Rae! Next time you don't pull out after 8, I'm kicking your ass." The girl said.

Rachel rolled her eyes at the girl. "Ari, would you relax? You know I would never put myself in any immediate danger!"

Ari. I recognize that name as the chick who B was talking on the phone to this morning in the choir room.

"What about what happened last summer?"

When that Ari chick said that, my eyebrows raised higher than they have before. I can't imagine Rachel Berry doing anything like what she was implying.

I looked at B and her eyes were swimming with tears. I took a look at the other people in their little group and they were glaring at Ari.

I feel like the entire time I had a huge question mark on my forehead.

I saw Rachel wipe her eyes and smile. I don't know how she could do that. I noticed that the group of people were now not only glaring at Ari, but also at B.

"Anyway, Noah. This is Ariel, my best friend in the whole world." She pointed at Ariel.

She gave me a once over and nodded, while Rachel rolled her eyes at her.

"This is Jaslene," She pointed at an exotic looking Latina. "Eric, Ari's boyfriend," She motioned to a guy with jet black hair and clear blue eyes. "Alex, Jaslene's boyfriend." This guy was tanned and I hate to admit it, but actually pretty toned. "Emerald," She pointed to a girl with chocolate brown hair and, fitting to her name, emerald green eyes. "Emerald's boyfriend, Peter," She motioned to a blonde haired blue eyed guy. "And finally, Ellie." She nodded towards a girls with brown hair and brown eyes.

"I go by Puck."

They all start snickering at me and I have this WTF look on my face.

"What?" I ask.

"You never told him Rae?" Jaslene asked with a smirk on her face as she tried to reign in her laughter.

"Told me what?"

"Oh nothing…" Eric trailed off before letting out another burst of laughter.

"Seriously what?"

"Did you never ask Rae why she calls you Noah instead of Puck?"

"Yes. She said it's because she likes Noah better."

"She lied." Ari cut in.

"What?" I whirled around and glared at her. "Tell me now."

"Noah-"

"Tell me."

"Are-"

"Tell me."

"Because there is a character in Shakespeare's _A MidSummer's Night Dream_ named Puck."

"And?"

"And he has pink fairy wings."

There was silence for a full minute.

"WHAT?!"


	8. Chapter 7

PUCK'S POV

"Okay, okay. So what? It's still badass."

After finding out about the fairy boy I kinda got mad, but then mellowed and now we were all sitting in the lobby of the IDA. It was really fun. I can see why B was best friends with this group. It was also really cool to see her so in synch with people. She was such an outcast at McKinley it took a couple minutes to get used to.

"Not really." They said in perfect synch.

I blinked at them.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?" They did it again.

"That! The thing where you say the same thing at the same time!"

They all looked at each other and laughed. Rachel was the one to explain.

"I guess we've known each other for so long we think the same things."

The doors to the IDA opened and 9 more people walked in. The group sitting in front of me all stood up to greet each other. A blonde haired blue eyed angel looking girl spoke up.

"We gave them the CD. They're about to start it."

"Then let's go!" They all rushed towards a room, B grabbing my hand and running right behind them.

The intercom above us crackled, and a girl started to introduce them. "Alright, everyone head to the space, we're about to be treated to a performance by, who else? The only group that's the best performers of this particular song."

All of a sudden they all burst out into laughter. I'm so confused right now.

We get to a studio where a table is set up and chairs. A bar is on another wall, and tables are set up all around like a restaurant.

"I suggest sitting!" Rachel pushes me down on to a chair of a bar.

Soon enough the entire room was flooded with people. Everyone headed to a seat. Also, 3 people sat at a table in front of the one the big group was at. Everyone glared at the 3.

The opening bars to a song started playing. The main guy at the table of 3 stood up and started singing about some place called Bohemia. Then as the main guy walks away, Eric stands up and mocks him. Then he starts singing too. He's a really good singer as well. Emerald stands up on the table and pulls down her jeans as an exotic looking girl slapped her ass. All of a sudden everyone but Eric started singing _La Vie Boheme_. The song continued in a fun manner, but I was shocked that Rachel didn't sing much. All of a sudden, she starts singing. I smile when I hear her voice. I know I sound like a sap, but-. Hold on a minute. Did she just say dildo? (The song is La Vie Boheme from RENT) As the song continued, the tension between Rachel and some guy kept building. As it came to a slow moment, Rachel and the guy kissed. I'm pretty sure my face read WTF, because honestly, WTF?

After it's over, the crowd disperses and the group bursts into laughter.

Alex is the first to 'sober up.'

"It was our song from the moment we heard it. We have these performances all the time. You'll get used to it."

"Matthew did." Ariel said. Everyone immediately stopped laughing.

"Ari," Eric reprimanded under his breath.

"He did!" she defended herself.

"Who's Matthew?" I asked, only to be ignored by the tension between B and Ari.

"If this is that same subtle hint.." Rachel said, trailing off. I looked at her and saw tears in her eyes.

"It's not that subtle. Is it?" She replied. "If it was, I need to work on being straightforward."

I almost laughed when I noticed that this was a huge deal between all of them. "Who's Matthew?" I asked again, trying to ease the tension, but actually, I made it worse.

"Yea Rae. Who is Matthew?"

"Cut it out Ari!"

"No. Why should I? You put yourself in danger again. You promised you wouldn't after what happened!"

"I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think I could!"

"You thought you could do a back handspring in first grade, and you broke your wrist. You thought you could do a triple axel in sixth grade and you broke your leg. You thought you could avoid the subject and run away last summer. You couldn't. This was the only time you were unharmed, but instead of everyone being okay-"

"STOP IT!" Rachel yelled. Any attempt to cool them down was stopped short.

I was extremely shocked. I had never heard Rachel yell at all, much less like that. Apparently neither had her friends.

"Don't fucking dare start on this subject again! YOU were the one who spent every chance you got telling me it wasn't my fault. MAKE UP YOUR FUCKING MIND! Stop telling me that it wasn't my fault one day and the next tell me it was! I'm done with the way you treat me about this! Please, stop toying with my emotions. I've had enough of it!" She was crying hard. She grabbed my arm and started to lead me out to her car. "I won't be over for a while. We both need to cool down Ariel."

Ari visibly recoiled when Rachel called her by her full name.

"Rae wait-"

"Let her go Ari," Eric said, taking her arm.

We quickly signed out and walked to her car. I opened the passenger side door for her, and she slid in.

The whole way back to Lima, she was silent and looking out the window.

"Do you mind if I put on some music?" I asked, trying my best to break her silence. She was Rachel Berry, she wasn't supposed to be quiet.

She nodded. I turned on the radio and we listened to her classic rock music for a while. She turned it to CD and pressed track 4.

I was confused. All of a sudden two voices came on. I recognized Rachel's voice almost immediately, but the guy's voice I couldn't tell who it was.

I made a list of all the guys in glee and went through it.

Me - No, I would've remembered it.

Finn - No, if it was Hudson, she wouldn't be crying.

Mike - Chang and B have never sung together

Matt - Same as Chang

Artie - No, he can rap, but he's not as good as whoever this is

Kurt - No, he sounds like a fucking girl

Then who the hell is he?

I look over at B and she's crying and looking out of the window.

"Are you okay? Who is this?"

She shook her head and answered so softly that if I wasn't listening I wouldn't have heard her. "Matthew."


	9. Chapter 8

PUCK'S POV

The only thing that was going through my mind was who was this Matthew dude?

He obviously meant something to Rachel, but I don't think anyone else from glee knows who he is. I'll have to ask when we get back.

We arrived at the school and she got out with a word. This worried me because even though she changed, she doesn't do quiet.

"Everything okay Rachel?" I asked.

"Fine." Her voice was tight, distant.

"Seriously B, you can come to me with anything. You know that right?"

"Of course Noah, I just need to get going. Please don't tell the gleeks. I don't care what you tell them. Tell them anything, just not the truth. I can't take it right now."

When she said that, I got a tightening in my gut. I didn't like where this conversation was going.

"What do you mean Rachel?" I asked, red, flashing lights going off in my brain as my mind warned me to approach the situation with caution.

"Nothing Noah. Don't worry about it."

"Are you sure you don't need a ride home Rach?"

"Positive." She gave me a hug, and when she did, I could feel her body let all the tension evaporate. She walked away and I swore I heard her mutter under her breath, "I'm not going home anyway."

What? I wondered. Either way, I was done bothering her for the day.

When I got home, I walked into the kitchen to get a Coke.

My mom stopped me.

"Noah, honey, what's the matter?"

"I didn't know Rachel was so hurt." I confessed.

"You mean when she broke her wrist and leg?"

"You knew about that?" I was shocked. My mom always told me when someone I knew got hurt.

She was a nurse at the local hospital, so she knew when people I knew got hurt or were in surgery or something.

"And you didn't tell me?"

"She asked me not to mention, something about how you would worry too much. She had plenty of other people worrying about her there though."

This peaked my interest. Maybe she knew something about this Matthew dude.

"Was someone there named Matthew?"

"Yes, I believe so. He never left her side. No matter what. It was quite sweet. He was there both times."

"Do you know if something happened to him?"

"No, why?"

"A bunch of Rachel's friends were talking about how hurt he got after last summer. Can you check if he's in the hospital?"

"Oh, honey." My heart sank. "I wish I could, but I don't know his last name and there are 43 Matthews admitted as of today."

"Oh. Thanks anyway Ma."

"Of course honey. I miss having Rachel around she was so sweet. And she's Jewish." She commented with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Ma!" I groaned and headed up to my room.

SANTANA'S POV

I looked up Berry in the Thunderclap.

"Ha!" I cried out triumphantly.

The reason none of the gleeks knew her before this year is because she transferred from another school. I don't know which one though.

I glanced at the time and saw it was around 7. I dialed Puck's number planning on getting as much information out of him about this afternoon as I could.

"You go for Puck." He commented into the phone, but he didn't sound like his normal self.  
"Hey Puckerman."

"Lopez, is this a booty call, because if it is, gotta turn you down. Sorry. Actually not really."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't play dumb, know what I'm calling about."

"Do I? I didn't last time I checked."

I sighed heavily. "Really? Okay, I'll just come on out and say it. What happened this afternoon at Berry's 'practice'?"

"Why do you want to know?" he shot back.

"Touchy… Interesting. I want to know because I know her from somewhere but I can't remember where. At least I think I know her from somewhere." I thought, questions still plaguing my mind. "Give me something Puck!"

"No Lopez. You wanna know ask her yourself." Then he hung up the phone.

He actually hung up on me! I decided to take his advice. I dialed her number.

You might be wondering why I have it. It's because at the beginning of glee Schue made us all swap phone numbers. 'In case of emergency'.

I rolled my eyes again. God, Schue needs to get laid.

It kept ringing until it went to voicemail. I was about to hang up without leaving a message, but then I heard her voice.

"Hey it's Rachel, B or Rae to a select few. If it's Ari, please don't call me right now. I told you we need a break. Otherwise, leave a message at the beep."

"Hey Rachel, it's Santana. I heard your voicemail and wanted to make sure you were okay. Call me back."

I hung up and let myself think. I fell asleep minutes later.

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. I looked at the caller ID. Rachel, it screamed out at me. When I saw her name, I was instantly awake.

"Hello?" I asked into the phone.

"Santana?" I heard Rachel's voice come through the other end.  
"Hey, what's up?"

"I could ask you the same thing. You were the one who left me a voicemail.  
Oh. That. "I just heard your voicemail about your friend and thought you might want to vent. You sounded pretty close with her this morning on the phone."

"Um… Sure." I can hear her walking and noise getting louder.

"What's that noise?"  
"Um, nothing." Suddenly it got really quiet and I heard a door shut.

"So, you want to vent."

"Please." She sighs and I prepare myself for the tears.

"Whenever you're ready."

"It's just, I trust Ari with my life and today she kept making these comments. And I know I need to watch out for myself, but I wouldn't have done anything I didn't know I could do. And she had a point about me hurting myself because I 'thought I could do things' in the past, but I could do it. I had done it before, I just hadn't showed them yet. And she brought up last summer, and I couldn't bring myself to be around her anymore. Don't get me wrong, she's still my absolute best friend, but I can't talk to her right now."

One thing caught my attention the most. "What happened last summer?"

"I don't want to talk about it. It's a long story. Thank you for letting me vent. I needed to get it all off of my chest."

"No problem. You can always come to me to vent." I surprised myself by actually meaning it.

"Thanks Santana."

"Ms. Berry?" An unknown voice knocked on the door.

"Who's that?" I asked curiously.

"What? What is it?" I heard Rachel ask frantically.

"Rachel?" I asked, getting to my feet.

I heard her briefly talk to whoever was getting her attention.

"Rachel?" I tried again.

"Santana," her voice was choked with tears. "I've got to go. I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks again for venting."

Before she hung up, I heard her running and shouting "MATTHEW!"

What the hell?


	10. Chapter 9

RACHEL'S POV

"MATTHEW!" I shouted as I ran down the hospital hall, racing to his side.

Let me explain. Matthew is my absolute best friend. Last summer we got into a small argument and I ran away, across the street. He followed and got hit by a car. Ever since then he's been in a coma, and he's had pretty bad days. This is not the first time I've visited him if that's what you're thinking. When it first happened, I spent the first whole month not moving from the chair by his bed. I couldn't live with myself. I almost turned to a blade, but Ari helped me get over it. That's why it's such a big deal that she's all of a sudden blaming me for his accident.

The nurse who came into the room I was in while talking to Santana said that Matthew was having a bit of a fit. She didn't know if he was waking up or getting worse, so she came and got me. I arrived at the room and quickly sat down in the chair that I had claimed oh so long ago. I gripped his hand and hoped he would wake up.

"Matthew, please wake up. I'm begging you. Ari's not here, she says it's my fault. If she says it is, it must be. Roo, you need to wake up. If you don't I don't know what will happen." I cried, using my special nickname for him and praying. I think of the time I started calling him Roo.

~Flashback~

_We were seven years old, and we first met._

"_Hi, my name's Rachel!" I proclaimed happily._

"_Hi, I'm Matthew." Matthew said._

"_I can't say that all the time though!" I complained._

"_Then call me Matt. All my other friends do."_

"_But I want to be special. How about Roo?"_

"_Okay, but only you can call me that."_

"_Yay!" I hugged him. "Thanks Roo!"_

"_But if you get a special name for me, I want a special name for you."_

"_Okay!" I smiled. This was a sign of friendship and I had the feeling we would be best friends for a long time._

"_I don't know you well though."_

"_How about Boo? It rhymes with yours, my favorite fruit is blueberries which sounds like boo, and my favorite holiday is Halloween."_

"_Okay! People better be scared. Here come Roo and Boo!" He was so enthusiastic and he introduced me to all his friends which were Eric, Alex and Peter. In turn, I introduced him to Ari, Jaslene, Ellie, and Emerald._

~End Flashback~

I continued holding his hand until he calmed down from whatever the fit was, and then I ended up falling asleep.

PUCK'S POV

I had hung up the phone on Santana and watched the football game while Ma made dinner. My phone started ringing again. It was Santana again. I checked the time and it was about half an hour after I hung up on her. I decided to answer it out of boredom.

"You go for Puck."

"Do you know who Matthew is?" It was the first thing out of her mouth and the one thing that made me turn off the TV and sit up straight.

"Where did you hear that name?" I asked immediately. I didn't want her to push Rachel for any information she wasn't willing to give.

"I took your advice and called Rachel, and she just vented to me about that Ari chick, when all of a sudden she ended the call. But not before I heard her run and yell the name Matthew."

I cursed under my breath. I was joking, I didn't think she would actually call Rachel. Since she did, I guess I could tell her. I didn't want to do it without Rachel's permission though.

"I'll tell you everything I know when I get the OK from Rachel."

"So you don't have a choice anymore. And to think I thought you had balls."

I knew she was trying to do everything she could to get the information out of me. What shocked me was that she had an underlying tone of concern in her voice. Maybe she did care. Either way, he wasn't going to tell her.

"No actually, it's just a really sensitive situation and I still don't understand all of it. It was all normal until Ari commented on something, then all hell broke loose. That's all I'm telling you without Rachel."

"That's actually pretty cool Puck." I smiled, then internally cringed when I remembered that it was a fairy.  
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"So I'll see you tomorrow?" She asked when there was a lull in conversation.

"Yeah, uh, could you maybe do me a favor?" I asked awkwardly.  
Santana was about to make some smart-ass comment, but she heard the concern in my voice. "Maybe. What is it?"

"Could you help me and Rachel avoid the Gleeks tomorrow? They're going to want to know all about it and I don't think they should. Rachel didn't tell them for a reason."

"Of course… Puck, do you think something big is up?"

"I don't think there is, I know there is. I just don't know what."

"Kay, I'll see you."

"You too." By the time we both hung up, Ma had finished cooking dinner.

"Is everything alright Noah?" We were sitting at the table with my little sister Sarah when she asked me this.

"Yes, I just wish Rachel wasn't always such a mystery now."

"What do you mean?" Ma asked, a crease between her brow.

"When she was Rachel Barbara Berry, she was so open about everything. Now I know it was just a facade and everything, but this new her isn't as trusting or forgiving. I'm happy that she's finally standing up for herself and everything, I just wish I knew more about the real her."

"Let her get through this, she'll let you know when she needs you, and she will open up when she's ready. I know you're impatient, and don't try to deny it," she said when she say me start to protest. "You're impatient, but you can't rush everything, especially when there are feelings involved."

I nodded my head dejectedly. "Thanks Ma, I'll talk to Rachel tomorrow and see how she is. She was worrying me when I left."

"You just left her at the school?" Ma asked angrily.

I held my hands up in surrender. "I tried to give her a ride home, but she took us in her car to her practice."

She relaxed and we finished dinner. I laid on my bed when I finished my homework and thought over everything that's happened since Rachel changed. She is really different now, but in the best way. Just as I'm about to fall asleep, one thought rings in my head.

I'm starting to fall in love with Rachel Berry.


	11. Chapter 10

RACHEL'S POV

I wake up and I remember exactly where I am. I would've been surprised if I didn't spend a month in this room, in this spot. I know Noah and surprisingly Santana are worried about me, but today I can't go to school. I need to stay here, especially after Matthew's episode last night. Matthew. I sigh and look at the bed. It seems so wrong to see him like this, mostly because he is so full of life, always breaking any tension, making any of us feel better. The only friends he ever had was our group. I mean, there are a lot of us, but like me, Matthew didn't really click with anyone else. I knew last night that I wouldn't be going to school. I couldn't. It's also safer for me in here. By that I mean here I'm not as tempted to hurt myself. At school it sucks, but it doesn't affect me as much as Ari did yesterday. Some of my favorite memories are of Roo and I. You might think that we were in love or something. That's not the case with us. It's more of a family relationship between us. That's another thing that makes it worse. We fought, and it's all my fault for not listening to him.

~Flashback~

_We were hanging out at the sports center that was across the street from the IDA. I walked up when Matt was talking to a couple guys I didn't know. _

"_All I hear is Rachel this, Rachel that. It's starting to get annoying." I could tell Matt was rolling his eyes. _

_Is he talking about me? He's my best friend, he wouldn't. Would he?_

"_Can't be that bad." One of the guys says. Who even are these people._

"_Well it is. If I hear one more word all about her, I swear I'm going to explode."_

"_Nice to know. I guess I won't comment on myself anymore." I said, making my presence known. All three boys jump up and Matt spins around._

"_Rachel! I wasn't talking about you!" He tried to plead with me, but his eyes were nervously jumping around, like they do when he's lying._

"_Don't lie to me Matt! I trusted you! We've been friends forever! You're talking about me behind my back? Low, Matt. Real low." I run away, tears clouding my vision. I sprint across the street without looking._

_Matt followed, but he wasn't as lucky. A car hit him and he flew back. When I saw him, I forgot all about everything that had just happened. I raced toward him. There was only one thought running through my head._

_It's all my fault._

~End Flashback~

He's been in a coma ever since. Not many people know this, but my worst fear is that either he won't wake up, or that when he does, he's not going to want to see me, because it's all my fault.

MATTHEW'S POV (Who was expecting that ;P)

For the past few months, it's been an out-of-body experience. I watched everything. What didn't surprise me at all was Rachel's dedication to seeing me. What did shock me is the fact she blamed herself. I didn't look both ways before running. It's my fault, not her's. I just wish she wasn't so stubborn all the time. I wasn't even talking about her! I was talking about Gerald and Charles. They're always going on and on about her, and I was a bit annoyed. I kind of exploded on them. In true Rachel fashion, she comes at just the right moment. Years at McKinley have made her feel insignificant. Like everyone hates her.

That's not even close to the truth. However, we do only have a family relationship. And before you ask that's all either of us want. I just wish I could wake up and stop her from worrying. I almost did last night, and that's what that whole episode was. As soon as I heard her venting about what Ari said and that she might turn to a blade, that terrified me. She's been through hell everywhere except for when we were all together. She's always been strong. If I was under that much pressure and bullied that much, I probably would've killed myself. Rachel hardly shed a tear. That was probably a hint right there. She has this stupid showface where when she's feeling anything at all, she puts on her showface and bottles up all her emotions. When it gets to be too much, it all explodes at once.

I miss her, and I can't do anything about it. I need to wake up, to stop her from doing something she shouldn't. Like cut, drugs, anything that would help her block out her emotions. People compare Vocal Adrenaline to soulless automatons. It may seem like Rachel is one, but it's the opposite. She feels too much, so when she gets hurt, she's really hurt. I was glad when she took a call from what sounded like a friend last night. I tried to wake up, but my head suddenly got really fuzzy, causing the 'episode' last night. I smiled when she called me Roo. She hasn't done that in a while. Mostly because I've been in a coma.

"Come on Matty, wake up!" Rachel pleaded. I know she wanted me to wake up, so that she would feel better. That she didn't do more damage. I wish she could know that I don't blame her. Even if she ran me over, I couldn't blame her. She is and always will be my best friend. I'm also glad she finally stood up for herself at school. The only reason I know that is she came in normal clothes, and she looked happier then she did a week ago. She comes almost every day, hoping to see me awake, and I feel so bad that I can't physically be there for her.

My head started to feel fuzzy again, but not like last night. I opened my eyes after the fuzziness faded away.

"Roo! You're awake!" She shouted, hugging me so hard I lost air. I didn't care. I hugged her right back.


	12. Chapter 11

PUCK'S POV  
As soon as I get to school, I try and avoid all of the gleeks. I don't want them to know Rachel's secret, especially without her permission.

I get to math and sigh in relief. I can finally ask Rachel about yesterday, and if she's okay. I look around the room, but I don't see her

When the teacher walks in, I'm immediately worried. Rachel is always at school, and in all of her classes. Even since she got all HBIC, she never missed a class. I kept thinking about all the things that could've happened to her, but above anything, who this Matthew guy was. Was he her boyfriend or something? Because if he was, he's got some competition. Yes, I've accepted that I'm in love with Rachel Berry, and that I want to be with her, hold her hand, and all that girly shit. Since Baby gate, Rachel's been my one true friend. Don't get me wrong, I still have other friends. But no one's been there like she has. She always knew exactly what to do to cheer me up. She even made me her famous sugar cookies. Damn, they were good.

Back to the point, Rachel is not at school. She makes a big deal about having a perfect attendance, so I doubt she's gone for some petty reason. While I was trapped in my thoughts, Santana walked in the room and sat down in the seat next to me.

"Puckerman, where's Berry?"

"Rachel," I emphasize, trying to get her to call Rachel by her name.

"Where's Rachel, Puck?" She rolls her eyes.

"I don't know, but I'm worried."

She rolls her eyes again. "You sound like you're in- oh. Oh my God! You're in love with her!"

"Quiet down Satan. I don't want that fact broadcast before I tell her."

"You even admit it, wow."

It's my turn to roll my eyes.

"Why are you worried?"

"She seemed so fragile the other day, and I'm worried she'll do something she'll regret."

"You mean like, cut?"

I cringed. I can't even imagine Rachel harming herself. "Yeah."

"I doubt it." She was acting so nonchalant.

"Why? Why are you so sure that she won't hurt herself?" I feel my temper rising.

"Because think of everything we put her through here. She didn't break. I don't see her breaking anywhere in the future."

"You didn't see her Lopez. Yes, we should've broken her because of all the bullying, but she didn't even crack. Yesterday, she was so broken, I didn't know who it was. Because Rachel Berry does not break. But Rachel does."

For the rest of the class period, I ignored her and let her wonder. Everything I said was true, however, and that's my main concern. After school I'll probably check the IDA for Ari or someone to find out what's going on.

MATTHEW'S POV

Rachel finally pulled away before grabbing my face in her hands.

"Don't you ever do that to me again! Do you hear me? Please Roo, I don't think I could handle it." She let tears slip from her eyes. I wiped them away with my thumb.

"I won't try to. Now, we need to talk." I gave her a serious face.

"About what?" She looked away, avoiding my eyes.

"I heard you say you were thinking about turning to a blade. What's going on Boo?"

She gave me a soft smile and opened up just a little bit. "Ari spent most of the summer trying to convince me that it wasn't my fault. After about a month or so, I started to believe her. The other day, she was saying that it was my fault and any previous thoughts I had came back even stronger. All I could think was, Ari is telling me this so it must be true. That's what got me through everything before. But I fought back, and I thought everyone agreed with her so I just came here."

She was still crying. I don't blame her.

"This was not your fault Rae." I said forcefully, but she wouldn't look at me. I grabbed her chin and brought it up so we were eye to eye. "This was not your fault."

She took a shaky breath. "I know, but that doesn't make it any easier. I didn't listen to your explanation, and look what happened."

"Can I tell you my explanation now?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood. It worked, and she giggled which was like music to my ears.

"Of course."

"I was talking about and to Gerald and Charles, the guys who were there. They talk about you all the time, so I just got frustrated with them and you just came at the wrong time."

She threw herself at me in another bear hug. "I'm so sorry. I was such an idiot!"

"It's fine Boo. Everything's okay now."

We spent the day in the hospital, making each other laugh. At about 3:30, Rachel got a call. She looked at the caller ID and paled.

"I'm so sorry Roo, but I need to take this."

"Take all the time you need Boo."

I still heard the one side of the conversation.

"Hello?" Rachel asked timidly.

I heard a relieved and angry voice on the other line.

"I'm fine Noah. No, I'm not home. Yes, I'm okay. In Lima. I gave you an answer. No, I'm not going to give you specifics. Don't you have glee? Thought so. I'm okay Noah, better than okay actually. Yes, I'll be there tomorrow. Alright, bye Noah."

"So… who's Noah?" I asked, wiggling my eyebrows.

She laughed at me, and I was so happy that I was awake again.

"Noah is someone from school."

"He sounded pretty worried Rach." She looked down.

"I may not have told anyone that I would be here today, and he was just making sure I was okay."

I could tell she didn't want to talk about it any more, so I changed the subject.

"So when can I see everyone else?"


	13. Chapter 12

RACHEL'S POV

I'm so happy Matthew's okay. I'm even happier that he doesn't blame me. God, I don't know what I would've done if he didn't want to see me.

"Boo? You coming back to Earth anytime soon?"

"Sorry. I was thinking about how happy I am that you forgive me and that you're okay."

"I promised I'd never leave you Boo. I mean to keep that promise. And before you apologize… again, I don't blame you. I could never really. Even if you were the one who ran over me. I would know that it was just an accident."

I jumped on him for another hug. "God I missed you."

"I missed you too." He mumbled into my hair. "God, you have no idea how hard it was."

I looked down, thinking that he was talking about how much pain he was in. He put a finger under my chin and made me look at him.

"Don't do that. Don't immediately think the worst, especially not of yourself. It was so hard seeing the people that I love in so much pain, especially you, and not being able to do anything about it. You don't know how many times I wanted to just open my eyes and hug you and tell you everything is alright, that I would be okay. I would walk through hell and back if it meant that I could've woken up earlier."

"I love you Roo."

"I love you too Boo. So answer my question. When can I see everyone?"

"Whenever you want."

"You need to make up with Ari."

"I know I do, but right now I'm just so frustrated with her, and the people at my school, and even me. But I'm willing to be in the same room as her."

"Great. Where's my phone?"

"Um… I think at your house. Oh my God. I haven't even told your parents that you're awake yet. I'll call them right now." I grabbed my phone and found his mom's number and hit dial.

"_Hello?"_

"Hi Kelly!"

"_Rachel? Hello! We haven't heard from you in quite some time. To what do I owe the pleasure?"_

"Are you sitting down, because if not, you may want to."

"_Rachel what's going on?"_

"Matthew's okay. He just woke up. He's okay!" I feel the tears streaming down my face. I missed him so much.

"_Oh my God! Richard and I are on our way. We will see you guys in 10 minutes tops."_

"Take your time Kelly. He's not going anywhere."

We say goodbye and hang up the phone. I walk back into the room.

"Hey Boo, why are you crying?"

"I just missed you. You know that you are my rock, so the fact that you were gone for so long really bothers me, and I missed you so freaking much."

"I'm here now Rae. From now on, if you need me I'm here okay? I was going to tell you this before the accident but now's a good time too."

I'm so confused. What is he talking about?

"I'm going to McKinley when I get discharged."

I just give him another hug, and we stay curled up around each other until his parents arrived.

SANTANA'S POV

All the glee kids are sitting in the choir room after school. There is no glee, but we all just kind of hang here sometimes. They're currently talking about some person or other when the door bursts open. We all turn to the door, and there is Rachel Berry, and she looks like she is glowing. She is just wearing an oversized sweatshirt, leggings, and Uggs, but I have never seen someone so beautiful. And I don't mean that in a I find her beautiful kind of way, but more I'm so jealous she looks perfect kind of way. the reactions are instantaneous.

Rachel is swarmed with hugs from most of them, other then Finn, Quinn, Puck, and I.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?" Puck yelled and everyone jumped, except for the glowing girl.

"Places." Yikes. He's going to blow up.

"PLACES? _PLACES?_ SOMEHOW ARI GOT MY NUMBER AND HAS BEEN CALLING ME NONSTOP. I'VE BEEN FREAKING OUT! WHERE? Where have you been?"

"Honestly?"  
"Yes, of course I want a honest answer."

Damn he's been really worried about her. Everyone is watching this like it's a tennis match and right now Rachel has the ball.

"You guys will find out on Monday. I just had a thought today and I thought that I would share it with you."

"Did you? Please share."

Rachel rolls her eyes. "We should go to the Cheerios Sectionals. We go to the football games so why can't we go the Sectionals?"

They all agreed and I was a bit shocked. I mean I know that Rachel and I have struck a tentative friendship, but this was something else.

Puck walks up to Rachel and everyone leans forward.

"But-"

"But nothing Noah. I think it's a great opportunity. And before you say anything else, I promise I'm fine."

He scoops her up in a hug. "Don't do that to me ever again."

They break apart. "Alright, so details for Sectionals?" She looks at me and all I can think is what the hell happened between yesterday and today?

"Are you sure you're okay B?" Puck asks, and I can hear a hint of Noah in his voice.

"Positive. In fact, I have never felt better!"

"Seriously, what's going on? Don't you trust me? This trip is more than just supporting the Cheerios isn't it?"

I walk a little closer.

"I'm sure I have no idea of what you are referring to. And as for your other question, I do trust you, probably more then anyone else in this room. However, you will just have to wait like everyone else and find out on Monday. I promise no more disappearing acts, and if Ari calls you again, tell her I'm okay, but we need space. I promise Noah. I am 100% fine, amazing really."

What the hell are they talking about?


	14. Chapter 13

RACHEL'S POV

Noah was right about one thing. This trip is definitely more then just supporting the Cheerios. The IDA has a performance while the judges are deliberating, and since Roo is back and will be coming to McKinley as soon as he gets discharged in a week. Sectionals is on Saturday of this week, and it's Wednesday today, so I'll have him here with me to hear what everybody thinks.

Having Roo awake and knowing that he'll be better and with me at school in a week is such a comforting thought, that every little piece of tension that has been building inside of me all school year is gone. I can breathe easier. Part of the reason that I was so bossy during glee is because that was the only thing I could control. I couldn't control schoolwork, the stress of driving between the school, IDA, and home everyday, not to mention dance and vocal lessons, and the harassment. The one thing I could have any semblance of control of was glee. I was the one to blow open baby gate yes, but that's partially because I had more and longer practices at the IDA, so I needed something to cover me. Don't get me wrong. Finn deserved to know, and Quinn should've told him right away, but the main reason for me breaking it open wasn't so that I could have Finn, contrary to popular belief.

"Why would we want you to come?" Brittany asked.

"Brit, we like Rachel now, okay?" Santana asked her.

"What changed? Don't get me wrong, I'm happy I don't have to be mean now."

"She believed us at Sectionals. Okay?"

Brittany nodded happily. "Okay."

I could feel Santana's eyes of me and I tried to suppress my smirk, but I don't think it worked very well.

QUINN'S POV

Everybody could tell there was something different about Rachel. Yes, I call her Rachel. She was someone who supported me after baby gate broke out. Granted it was her fault in the first place, but I've accepted that it would've been worse if any more time had gone by. She would always bring food to help with my cravings, and is giving me tips about living with Mrs. Puckerman. Although Rachel calls her Rebekkah.

Back to my original point. While anyone can tell that there is something different about Rachel, I can tell that she is keeping something from everybody. Not anything bad, but something. I can read people fairly easily, and Rachel, although a bit harder, isn't too difficult. She twitches her right hand when she's lying, she blinks a lot when trying to fight back tears that you can't see… yet. But most of all, when she is hiding something, she's amused but doesn't want you to know, or when she's feeling particularly mischievous, the left corner of her mouth twitches up. While Santana and Brittany were talking, I watched Rachel. She was trying not to smirk. I know that she's hiding something, but I figure we'll find out soon enough. We all know that Rachel can't keep a secret to save her life. She's like every teenager girl in that aspect. She doesn't always tell everybody however. If there is one thing I've learned about Rachel is that if she doesn't want a specific person to know something, they won't.

Everyone just goes back to hanging out and talking and I walk up to Rachel.

"Hi Rachel."

She turned to face me. "Oh! Hey Quinn! Are you craving something?"

I shake my head. "No, I just wanted to ask you about what changed."

"What do you mean?"

"Everybody here can tell that something changed. You're practically glowing. You're not pregnant too are you?" I joked.

She laughed, and it didn't sound as forced as earlier this year. "No, I just got some news. Good, no great news."

"Oh? Do tell?"

"You'll find out with everybody else of Monday."

I playfully groaned. I actually like being friends with Rachel. She isn't as bad as I used to think. She's very playful and mischievous when she wants to be. She's not really all that controlling, which makes me wonder why she is.

"I have a question. A real one this time." I said, leading into the control topic.

"Ask away." I quickly looked around and realized that no one else was paying attention to us.

"Why are you so controlling in glee, when you aren't like that at all?"

She looked a bit startled. "I was just thinking about that this morning actually. I needed some semblance of control over some part of my life, and this just happened to be the only thing that worked."

I nodded it made sense. She had to get slushied, while I hadn't had to worry about it while I was a Cheerio.

"I hope you'll come this weekend." She comments.

"Why wouldn't I?" I asked confused.

"I just wouldn't want it to be to hard for you, especially with just getting kicked off."

I stared at her for a moment. She really is the best person not only in the glee club, but in the whole school. "It won't be too hard. Not if you're there."

She smiled, but she had a glint in her eye. "Oh, I will definitely be there."

I couldn't help but wonder what she meant when she said that. Obviously she'll be at the competition, but there was something else. Either way, I have a feeling nothing will be the same after this weekend.

"Do you want to head out and get a shake or something?" She asked. I was shocked.

"Aren't you not only a vegan, but constantly going on about what dairy does to your vocal chords?" At the same time, a shake sounded so good. A vanilla shake with french fries to dip. Yum.

"I'm a vegetarian. I used to be a vegan, because my doctor told me I might be lactose intolerant, so to do a trial run without it, than add it in. I found out I'm not, I just can't drink any percentage of whole milk."

"Interesting. You still didn't answer the vocal chords question." I caught her before we could leave.

She rolled her eyes. "Technically, it is bad for your vocal chords, but regionals isn't for 3 months. I think I can have one milkshake."

"Well, that's all the convincing I need. Can we stop at McDonalds?"

"To get fries to dip in the shake?"

"Yes, actually. How did you know?"

"I used to do it all the time when I was little."

**Sorry! Don't hate me! I'll try to update my other stories. I have had to deal with daily migraines, so a lot of screen time is not recommended. Thank you for reviewing, following, and favoriting. **

**-V**

**P.S. Here's a little Faberry friendship. I'll do the weekend chapter next.**


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